


Carry On, Wayward Daughter

by russetthairdontcare



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Family Drama, Father-Daughter Relationship, Healing, Kidnapping, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:08:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24315571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/russetthairdontcare/pseuds/russetthairdontcare
Summary: Helen Hendricks is a newborn vampire who had her entire life thrown upside down when the leader of the Volturi set out to have her as his own. Finally free from his clutches and hiding in plain sight thanks to her closest allies the Cullen family, she continues to protect her family and friends. Haunted by Aro and her former life, she must decide how she will survive and how she will live her life as an immortal.
Relationships: Aro/OC, Aro/Original Female Character, Aro/Sulpicia (Twilight), Carlisle Cullen/Esme Cullen, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, OC/OC
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	1. It Resumes

Chapter One: It Resumes

**Greetings dears! I welcome you to Part Two of the Story of Helen Hendricks (working on a title). For those who have not read My Pointe of View, I encourage you to do so in order to have a further grasp of the story. You can find the first part on FF.net. However, I have formatted it to allow anyone to jump right in if you so choose. The link for the first installment story will be posted below, but if enough people request it I will upload the entire story here. Life sucks, we're all in quarantine and I'm furloughed from work so I finally have time to work. Please stay at home if you do not feel well, wash your hands for at least twenty seconds and take this time to read more Fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, I am merely borrowing them for my own nefarious purposes.**

**Warning: This story contains cursing, depictions of PTSD and depression, death, mentions of drug use, and violence. Reader discretion advised.**

* * *

_"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster." - Friedrich Nietzche_

* * *

_The air is very still. The room had a sense of opulence and magnanimity about it. Three thrones, two on opposite sides and of unequal distance to the large and ornate chair in the center. Three unequal figures with alabaster skin and milky red eyes were strung about these chairs. On the far right, a man with chin-length white-blonde hair, his handsome face almost frozen in a perpetual frown. His floor-length black robe covering his shiny black shoes. The far left had another man, brunette and of equal beauty, his chair being the only thing propping up his exhausted features. His robes had shown signs of considerable wear and he had not bothered to put shoes on his pale feet._

_In the center was a man, black-haired and just as handsome as the other two. Well-groomed in his neatly pressed black cloak. Not a single hair out of place. His smile might have looked kind to most, but his eyes betrayed him. His eyes look ferocious, deadly, full of absolute rage._

_The middleman, Aro, was a vampire and he had not felt this kind of seething anger in quite a long time._

_He saw the guards him. Their eyes downcast and nervous as they bowed before their masters. Despite having the ability to read a person's thoughts with one touch, Aro had known what they were going to say. They had failed to do their duty. They had failed in their roles as members of the guard. They had failed to help him bring order and balance back to his coven, his empire, and his family._

_"Demetri, what news do you bring?" Aro asked, his voice was slick with feathers and honey; almost sickly sweet._

_"Master." The brunette guard on the left, tall and lanky, spoke. "Felix and I have patrolled the surrounding areas that she might run to. There is no sign of Lady Helen in the surrounding area. It appears whatever mechanisms were used to keep her hidden have proven successful. I cannot track her current location. Please forgive me."_

_On Aro's right, Caius, the white-haired man let out a hiss. "Jane." He seethed and a youthful-looking girl with porcelain skin emerged from the shadows. Her hooded cloak neatly framing her light brown hair. Her bright red eyes, piercing, ready for the kill. Her nose twitched slightly and Demetri was not hunched over even further, his body tense and contorting with unyielding pain. On his left, Felix, a large and burly man with honey-colored hair tensed up as though he was fighting the urge to help his comrade._

_"Now, now Caius. That's quite enough, Jane dear." Jane stopped immediately after Aro had interjected. "It is not our dear Demetri's fault that his abilities have been hindered due to the actions of a treacherous criminal. No, we will simply have to be a little more creative. After all, Lady Helen has been missing for over two weeks now. It is unlikely she would be anywhere near the surrounding area."_

_"What would you have them do then?" Caius growled. "We cannot send the entire guard out to look under every rock for that unruly little bitch. When word gets out that we have failed to control a newborn and let her roam free to be as inconspicuous as possible, they're going to come put our heads on spikes!"_

_"Caius." Aro sang. "You are getting ahead of yourself. Helen might be a stupid little girl but even she has enough sense to not draw attention to herself. Especially considering her own determination to hide from us."_

_"It's not a matter of sense that Caius is concerned about." His brother on the left, Marcus sighed. "The thirst of a newborn, even one that has been satiated for a few months, is still a risk. However, that risk might be the opportunity that will end up helping us find her."_

_Aro sighed in frustration. Demetri and Felix were still on their knees before him, waiting for an order. He had sent them out on two missions, truthfully, one to recover his missing daughter and another to track down the guard that had deserted his post on the night she had gone missing in question._

_"Did you succeed in bringing back Sebastian?" Aro asked with a purse on his lips, wondering if his guard had been able to redeem themselves. Felix had answered this time. "Yes, Master. Alec has him under the mist in a cell. We caught him in Cortona hiding in a tavern of sorts. He had paid some nomads to board him and was ingesting some Leechless to try and throw off his scent, but his body had burned it off."_

_"What of the nomads who were hiding him?" Aro asked lightly._

_"Executed swiftly and disposed of promptly for intentionally harboring a fugitive, as per your standards, Master," Felix replied._

_"Bring him in." Caius sneered to the two lower-level guards at a side door on the right of him. They bowed their heads and left the room. To the untrained human eye, the vampires would have moved almost like a gust of wind, but the people in that room could see them move rather normally as their cloaks billowed in their hurried state. It took only a few minutes for them to bring a disorientated vampire back with them. His eyes refocusing and his limbs nearly limp as an aftereffect of being subjugated to Alec's paralyzing gifts. Sebastian's grey cloak was torn and muddied, his black hair greasy and flat against his head. Around his wrists were two large and chunky bronze chains. It almost seemed silly to think that a vampire could be restrained by such flimsy metal, but the Volturi Masters knew the truth. Such metal, courtesy of their warlock associate Lucius, had a special property that rendered any vampire without any powers. It served them well when dealing with particularly violent or eager to flee criminals._

_Sebastian was forced to kneel before his Masters, next to Felix and Demetri, his face trembling with fear and uncertainty while his former associates remained cool and composed._

_"My dear Sebastian." Aro clucked his tongue patronizingly. "I am so disappointed in you. Desertion is hardly what I expected from such a long-serving member. After all of our years together I am truly devastated by this betrayal, of that and of your unforgivable carelessness that has put my daughter in grave danger."_

_Sebastian's eyes fell to a spot on the marble floor. He could not bear any of this shame, he wished they would just get his sentencing over with._

_"Do you have nothing to say? Or shall we add impoliteness to your indiscretions? How pathetic." Caius scoffed at the pitiful former guard member before him. Sebastian swallowed the venom in his mouth and responded. "Masters, I have failed you. I was not at my post on time. I have no excuse; I have caused great suffering to the Family with my actions. I did not think she was gone; it had only been two minutes. She hadn't ever done that before. I thought the girl had been using her gift. I-"_

_"You talk of no excuses and yet they are prattling out of you." Aro cut him off with a cruel smirk. His demeanor shifting to become more blatantly furious. His smile no longer attempted to be friendly. "Don't be a child. You received adequate notice that you were on shift and you ignored it. Your reason had better be of grave importance to your Masters."_

_"I was with Lawrence. We were playing a game of cards when he noticed the time." He stated._

_Aro sighed as he noticed Caius sneer and Marcus roll his eyes with great effort. "Such nonsense. We have all of this as a result of a silly game. How incredibly ridiculous. Do you have anything to say for the crime of desertion?"_

_Sebastian readjusted his kneeling position before he spoke. "I was fearful, Master Aro. I did not think you could forgive me for such carelessness. When you had requested I summon Lady Helen to you, I knocked and entered. She was nowhere to be found; she did not respond to any of my attempts to coax her into revealing herself from her gift. It was then I knew she was gone. I could not fathom what such a loss to your person would entail. That is when I fled, Master. I could not live with the shame of failure."_

_"Next order of questions then. How did you acquire a bottle of Leechless? I do not recall Lucius gifting a guard member any bottles for their own consumption." Caius interjected with a growl._

_"I know where the personal stores are. When I decided to run I had grabbed a bottle, I was not thinking clearly."_

_Aro scoffed at this statement. "Clearly you were as you decided to take great measure into avoiding any consequences for your actions, such cowardice, dear Sebastian."_

_Sebastian said nothing, quite possibly the smartest thing he could have done._

_"The nomads who hid you." Caius sneered once more. "Who were they?"_

_Sebastian could not meet his former Master's gaze. One minute had passed before a quick jolt from Jane's eye had prompted him to answer the question. He swallowed more venom and spoke. "I found them wandering about nearby. I paid them all the money I had on me to not disclose I was there. I needed time to think about what I should do."_

_"I don't believe any numerical amount of time could allow you to make a rational decision." Aro chortled. "Let us see. Negligence, theft, desertion, and evasion. You certainly have no regard for our laws at all, despite how long you have served to enforce them."_

_"Frankly Master Aro, the same could be said about Lady Helen," Sebastian stated boldly, forgetting his own position. "She disobeyed you as well. She is the cause of all of this misfortune. She-"_

_Aro had commanded Jane to set the younger vampire's senses ablaze by barely moving a finger. After ten minutes of watching Sebastian scream and writhe in agony on the marble floor, he finally relented._

_"If I hear one more impertinent accusation about my child come from your mouth, I will have Felix rip out your tongue." Aro hissed with a mean smile, his eyes black with exposed anger. "Regardless of Lady Helen's actions, you are at fault for allowing them to proceed. This whole thing is a wasteful mess that I now have to clean up due to the actions of children. Such a disrespectful crime warrants its own punishment. However, the penalty for desertion is death. Believe me when I say this Sebastian, that you will not be given a quick beheading due to the turmoil you have inflicted on the Family."_

_There was a pregnant pause in the room as Marcus, with great effort, asked the next question. "Did you tell anyone outside of this coven that Lady Helen is no longer under our supervision?"_

_"Yes, Master Marcus," Sebastian stated plainly. "I told the nomads when I asked for their help." The Volturi Masters all expressed varying degrees of frustration at this statement. The element of control now missing once again._

_"How many were in that group? Who else did they interact with?" Caius sat up menacingly. "You better think fast boy, before I start carving you up in pieces."_

_"There were four in the group originally and then two more joined while I was being hidden," Sebastian stated. "I do not know if they were told."_

_Caius sneered at Demetri next, "how many did you execute?"_

_The lanky vampire exhaled, "Six vampires and one nearby human hiker who was close enough to the smoke to get curious. As far as I know, all of Sebastian's associates are dead."_

_"Splendid!" Aro crooned lightly, clasping his hands together. "Such ugliness prevented in a timely manner, my dear Demetri." Aro chortled in what might have almost seemed a harmless laugh. "Remy, Giorgio, you may escort Sebastian back down to his holding cell until the pyre is prepared by the staff. Let this deserter be an example to you and everyone else that the Volturi Brothers do not take acts of treason lightly."_

_The two guards nodded respectfully and dragged the trembling vampire towards the back corridor by his arms, his feet scuffing against the white marble below as he struggled in their hold._

_"This hearing is adjourned, back to your duties, my dears." Aro sighed and stood up from his throne, his brothers joining him as they made their way from the dais to the private chamber behind the staircase, from there ascending the grand staircase to the third level. On any other night, Aro would have looked forward to leaving the toils of work to adjourn to the Family Room, where only the core members of the coven would leisurely enjoy each other's company. Instead, he knew what awaited him, the disappointment in his precious wife's face as another day passed with no sign of their daughter. Or perhaps he would receive another trying look from Caius' wife Athenodora, a woman far too knowledgeable for his taste._

_The room, a lovely shade of gold and red, held nothing other than a sour mood. Sulpicia, a woman who possessed such natural grace and warmth looked quite disheveled. The Wives normally pinned their hair into neat buns during the day to present themselves with. Athenodora had followed suit as usual, but Sulpicia's cream-colored hair had been done up haphazardly in a low and loose nest with various strands of hair hanging around her face. She had wrapped herself in a black shawl over her dress. Their own color, one of strength and superiority, was now being used for his wife's grief. A mother mourning a lost child._

_Athenodora had helped coax her out of their bedroom. Persuading her to bathe and allow the servants to change the blood-soaked sheets that had been left after the frenzy she went into. Despite her unpleasantness, Aro was grateful for her friendship with Sulpicia._

_"Well?" Sulpicia breathed out, her eyes flickering to acknowledge the Brothers entering the room. Athenodora accompanied her side, her hands on hers as they waited for the news. Aro slowly walked over to his wife's shaking form on the chaise lounge. Her eyes pleading with him for any news at all that might comfort her. He sighed in defeat and gave her a soft, encouraging smile._

_"She is still away from us, my love." Aro placed a consoling hand on her shoulder, watching her face fall. "I assure you we are doing everything necessary to bring her home. We did succeed in finding Sebastian, dear heart."_

_At that, Sulpicia's face twisted in anger. "Well that is something, I suppose. I trust his punishment will fit his crime?"_

_"Of course, it will," Aro assured her, embracing her sullen form. "His suffering will be the sort of legends." In the corner of his eye, he saw Athenodora go to Caius on the beige loveseat, and Marcus draped himself over an adjacent chair. There was immense frustration in this room, Aro could tell as he sat next to his darling wife. Caius was teetering close to the edge of having Helen killed once she was found, or at the very least severely maimed to teach her a lesson. Marcus still opposed such punishments but Aro knew that the longer she remained missing, the greater the chance he had to be swayed._

_"Have you used the sire bond to speak to her since the night she ran?" Sulpicia asked in a daze. He'd had Corin visit her this afternoon to help with her hysterics and make her more content, in truth, it might have been too strong of a dose after all._

_"No, darling, I would have told you if I had," Aro said sweetly. He glanced down at the mark on his finger, where Helen had dared to cause him injury. He would make her pay for that and for all of the sufferings she was causing his wife at present._

_"Perhaps you should," Caius stated bitterly. "She is stupid but she's smart enough to fear you. A few more sessions and she might sing on her whereabouts."_

_"I have tried," Aro confessed with a dark smile, surprisingly the core coven. "I have attempted to have another talk with her and handle the situation as delicately as I can. She has not accepted any at present, so we will simply have to keep trying another way. Such a fuss, over something so pointless. I will never understand why she would choose them over me."_

_"Us." Sulpicia corrected sharply, all eyes in the room looking at her rather warily. Aro simply smiled once more and kissed his exhausted wife's hairline._

_"Yes, Sia I meant no offense," Aro said in a soothing voice. He watched Caius roll his eyes in frustration at their spat. His brother had made no secret of blaming his desire of Helen as the catalyst for all of their misfortune. Minutes after she had been discovered missing, he had gone into a tirade about how soft she had made him. That his leniency towards her would now be their undoing._

_"You are not her father." Marcus breathed, such a bold statement souring the faces of Aro and Sulpicia. "And you are not her mother. The two of you can choose to be angered by that fact, but that is the truth. Until Richard Hendricks draws his last breath, the girl will never accept herself as your child. So, it is not surprising, in the very least, that she would choose him over you."_

_"Thank you for that assessment, Marcus." Aro smiled fakely, voice filled with artificial sweetness. "I am aware of those facts, I am merely pointing out that despite however much affection she might hold for dear Richard, her choice remains quite stupid. Have I not offered her everything she could ever want? Have I not comforted her? Doted on her? Accepted her into our coven and given her a higher purpose than any of those humans could have?"_

_"I do not disparage her ingratitude, Aro." Marcus breathed again, the conversation taxing him. "Instead I choose to remind you of facts that you seem to disregard."_

_"How kind of you." Aro clucked his tongue. "It simply serves as another reminder for me to rip Richard Hendricks limb from limb in front of her."_

_"Perhaps you won't have to," Sulpicia interjected with a sly grin. "If she is with him again as you think, her newborn thirst might solve the problem for us."_

_"Hmm, that is an interesting idea, love." Aro purred into her ear. "Maybe I'll have her kill him instead, it certainly would serve as a more appropriate punishment to solitary confinement."_

_"While I certainly look forward to whatever consequences await the child," Caius cut in, rather annoyed. "Do we have any reasonable plan for how we are to re-attain her? For what we are planning to inform the vampire public? If she has not already come into contact with another coven, she will soon."_

_"At present, we will not mention this incident to anyone outside of these walls." Aro sighed. "We do not need to make a debacle out of what is simply a private matter. If any covens report seeing her, we will thank them for the information and offer no further explanation other than that."_

_"And if the girl draws unwarranted attention to herself?" Athenodora sneered. "Then what would you have us do? Tie ourselves to our pyres to save any insurgents the trouble of doing so?"_

_Aro scoffed lightly and gave her a slimy smile as he crooned. "My dear Dora, we cannot pretend that tragedy is impervious to us. We simply tell them of our misfortune, of course. That our precious, innocent babe has been taken away by a criminal who seeks to undermine the very foundations of our peaceful society. That Ruby White is a dangerous individual who would dare to take a newborn vampire away from her loved ones and use her for her own nefarious purposes. That our gratitude would know no bounds if she was returned to us."_

_"Where do you even come up with this tripe?" Caius wrinkled his face in disgust._

_"As nauseating as it may sound to repeat, it is an effective speech nonetheless," Aro smirked. "In nearly every coven there is a strong enough bond between members that they too can empathize with others experiencing familial strife. Such emotion is only beneficial to us. You underestimate it, Caius."_

_"You overestimate it, sentimental fool." His brother chided. "Familial compassion and pity will only last so long from the public." There was a beat as Caius gestured to his wife and Marcus. "As well as from the rest of us. You are correct, Aro, we cannot pretend this didn't happen if it comes down to it. However, she is your responsibility and you will be held accountable if and when she causes us any more trouble. I told you the very day that you brought her here that it was going to cause us nothing but misfortune, but still, we all relented. I suggest you make haste, and when you bring her back here I want your word, that you will teach her a lesson that will never make her defy you or us, the leaders of our kind, ever again."_

_Aro smiled in what couldn't have been a lovelier smile to anyone else. "Of course, Caius. I will make her see reason. I will give her another chance to prove her worth and earn her place back into the Family."_

_"I thought the Volturi did not give second chances?" Athenodora snorted with a smirk._

_"No." Aro sighed, his eyes becoming very dark as he gave an unholy smile, "but I suppose we can make an exception just this once."_

* * *

The air is warm and sticky outside. Not quite the same as the humid sweltering of a Missouri May Spring, or when she'd visit her cousins in Conway, Arkansas and practically inhaled water. It felt much nicer here, what with the high only being sixty-eight degrees. At least eight crickets are chirping beneath her bedroom window. She'd attached a flower box after coming back from Washington and was finally going to see the yellow roses she planted blooming in the weeks to come.

Or not, she honestly wasn't sure if she could successfully grow roses despite reading the instructions.

Helen picked yellow to match the colors she selected from her Pottery Barn bedding. Yellow quilt with ruffles and white sheets. Since she was trying to be optimistic lately, she thought it would be helpful to have an optimistic room. Positive reinforcement and what not.

Really it was only for her aesthetic, after all, vampires don't sleep.

She had a Bluetooth speaker on her nightstand, Tom Petty's _American Girl_ softly calling out to bring Helen out of her stupor. While she enjoyed the calm she had been given since she fled Volterra, Italy over two weeks ago, Helen was trying very hard not to get too comfortable or let her guard down. She couldn't help it, heck, she sometimes wondered if today would be the day that she'd walk down the hallway and find a black-cloaked guard waiting to get the jump on her.

It was a fruitless paranoia, Aro had all but told her himself that he had no idea where she was during their last confrontation. She would feel moments where something would press against her mind, the familiar reaching of his sire bond to her attempting to force her to speak to him. She ignored it until it naturally went away, but a part of her morbidly wanted to speak to him. If not just to rub it in his face that she was gone, just to have some idea of what he was up to it. Even after everything that had happened, Helen would catch herself wondering what was going on in Volterra after she had rejected Aro and Sulpicia.

Sulpicia. She thought about her a lot too actually, wondering how the vampire queen was coping with losing yet another child. She wondered if the woman had felt bad about the role she played in driving Helen into self-imposed exile from the Volturi. If she had even cared about the damage she had done to someone she claimed to love so very much.

It didn't matter, whatever reasons the two of them had for what they had wanted to do to her and her family. She was a Hendricks, through and through, and no one messed with their family and got away with it. From what her Dad had been telling her lately, her brothers and best friends had been getting acclimated to Colorado without too much trouble. She still got a lot of ignoring from Aggie, a consequence of her actions she was more than willing to pay after everything she had put them all through. Luckily Sydney told her that she was trying to get her to ease up a little, to at least make everything seem a little more civil.

Helen had been adjusting to Portland rather well given the circumstances. In the wee hours of the morning, she would take long walks around trails with little to no human activity to get some fresh air and exposure. Ruby and Carlisle told her that in a few weeks she would be able to experiment with larger crowds and see how much progress she had made with controlling her thirst. Catching her reflection in the window, Helen took note of her red eyes. If she played with them in the right light they had almost an orange hue to them now. According to Carlisle, her eyes would soften from red to amber and then turn into a brilliant honey gold the longer she fed on animals.

It would be a welcome change to no longer have to bear the same eyes like that of her previous captors.

There was a soft hum of a car outside pulling into the driveway. Ruby was back a little earlier than normal from evening rounds. Normally, the witch would have a drink at a bar and come home smelling like cigarettes and scotch. There was one night in particular where Helen had to help her through the hallway and take her shoes off when she managed to get her into the bed.

Except for this time when Ruby came home, she smelled clean and sober. No slurring was visible in her voice as she called out, "Hey kid pack your stuff. We have to head to Washington." Helen turned off her speaker and within a single motion sped very quickly to where Ruby was pouring a large bottle of scotch into a stainless steel travel container.

"What?" Helen countered, confused. "We weren't supposed to go back until next Saturday; what gives?"

"Carlisle needs our help with those newborns harassing the area. He's planning on going up to Seattle in a few weeks to take them out so they don't draw any further attention." Ruby sighed while tightening the lid. "I tried getting out of it but he very politely reminded me that he's doing me a huge favor by keeping us hidden."

"So, what we're just supposed to fight a group of near-indestructible vampires because Carlisle asked us to?" Helen scoffed. "Ruby, I know I like to use the phrase 'fight me' a lot but I'm actually a huge wimp when it comes to combat."

"We're not fighting as of right now, we're mostly going to patrol the area and sit on the sidelines as needed."

"I don't wanna go," Helen whined. "I don't know how to fight and my Dad told me to stay out of trouble."

At that, Ruby snorted and gave her a mean smile. "Oh I'm sorry, do you have some prior engagement, Helen? Some little nerd thing more important than getting control of your vampire powers? Quit your griping, we're going. I'm as pissed as you are but we owe Carlisle right now, so suck it up and pack."

"What if the Volturi show up? You know that the Seattle situation is on their radar, should we really risk it?" Helen snapped back. "I want to help, but I don't see how we're actually doing anything productive."

"Look, just go pack or don't, I don't care really but either way your butt is gonna be in the car in fifteen minutes." Ruby huffed. "We'll go and give it a few days. If it turns out they don't need us, I promise you can go back to sulking and planting your sad little angsty flowers."

"You're such a bitch," Helen grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm rubber you're glue. Get packing or I'll tell your Daddy you aren't behaving." Helen flipped her off as she walked down the hall and into her bedroom. So much for the calm, really she should've expected it to end soon. This whole thing seemed like bullshit and she could tell there was more that Ruby wasn't letting on. Even if the Seattle newborns really were heading to Forks, it's not like Helen could handle it. She was still plenty strong, case in point when she got her brush stuck in her tangles and the act of getting it out resulted in her hand colliding with the sink and breaking off a huge piece.

But she didn't know how to fight, not against someone actively trying to hurt her, especially a vampire. She kind of knew self-defense, but only how to break free and run if someone grabbed her. So what was the point in her going to Washington? Ruby at least knew how to use magic offensively, so that made sense. It's not like Aro had the Volturi guard teach her hand-to-hand, the only advantage she'd have in a fight would involve using her power.

Even imperceptibility would only work so far.

Helen sighed and put on her boots and t-shirt. Her Dad really was not going to be happy about this.

* * *

_"So why are you going back to Washington so_ _soon?_ " Richard said through a muffled phone connection as Ruby drove her Toyota upstate.

"Carlisle needs our help with something, it's apparently a pressing issue that I wish I had more information about." Helen sneered at Ruby who in return narrowed her eyes. "Hopefully it won't take very long."

" _Well is it safe?_ " Richard asked. " _I'm concerned about these spontaneous trips. I haven't even met this man if that's what I could call him. I'd like to make sure he's not putting you in any danger."_

"Carlisle is looking out for me, Dad, I promise he's on our team."

 _"There are no teams, Helen. He's a vampire and our family has not exactly had a good track record with them. Is this gonna put you in jeopardy of being discovered?"_ Richard asked, his voice gruff with worry. " _Honey I'm just concerned. If the Volturi are going to try to find you they'll be looking for any deviation from a normal schedule."_

 _"_ We're still setting up a normal schedule," Helen explained. "I promise Ruby and I are being careful. Anyway, how are things there?"

" _Fine, I guess. I started my new job Ruby got me teaching at the law school. Got everyone registered to start school in the Fall, Wesley is gonna take classes at the community college for right now. I know Sydney and Aggie are having a tough time adjusting, I don't blame them, they miss their parents."_ Helen exhaled sharply, she really wasn't ever going to stop feeling bad about what she had put them through. She had hoped things were getting better, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"I thought they were doing alright." She admitted.

_"Aggie doesn't want to make you feel any worse, Flapjack. I know you guys aren't on great terms right now, but I know she would love to have you still check on her even if she seems frosty." Richard coughed. "Anyhow, I need to charge my phone. Will you please tell this Carlisle person that I would like to meet him soon? I'd like to check him out myself."_

"Dad," Helen whined in protest.

" _Don't you 'Dad' me, Helen Louise, I have a right to meet him. Listen, I love you, I will talk to you later. Please let me know when you get there."_ The line cut out abruptly, leaving Helen to stare at the empty black screen of her phone and fiddle with her volume button. In the corner of her eye, she caught Ruby looking at her now with sympathetic eyes. She cleared her throat and there was a pregnant pause before she spoke up.

"I'll see if Carlisle can arrange to meet him. I know it's a lot to take having to be separated." Ruby said softly.

Helen, however, did not really feel like taking Ruby's olive branch and snarled. "The fuck do you know about how much someone can take?"

The car was quiet now. Ruby inhaled sharply, her ring just slightly beginning to glow. "Everything."

* * *

Forks, Washington was still mostly the same. A sleepy Pacific Northwest _Mystic Pizza_ town _._ They had added new decorations for a Memorial Day celebration. There was an advertisement for a town barbecue. _May 26-28: Forks Fish Fry Fun Memorial Day Weekend Festival. Honoring our Veterans (Proceeds go towards the Wounded Warrior Foundation and Veterans' Association)._

It looked fun honestly. Helen remembered the last barbecue she went to before her life was turned upside down. It was Labor Day of last year, it was hosted by the local law enforcement officials. They rented out a whole big section of Tower Grove Park. They had face painting, sparklers, and so many different food vendors. Her Dad bought them all soft-serve ice cream and giant pretzels covered in mustard. Her friends hung out by the fountain with the other high school kids. One of the boys had asked Aggie for her phone number and they all thought it was the coolest thing that had ever happened.

She missed those days the most. She remembered that Aro had been following her along with a few members of the guard at that point. She imagined Felix and Demetri buying cotton candy and getting their faces painted to try and blend in. Afterward having to go back and report their findings to an exceptionally confused Aro. It made her laugh very hard to herself.

"What are you laughing at?" Ruby asked dryly.

"Myself." She admitted.

"Are you that funny?" She snorted, wondering what the joke was. Helen chuckled again before responding. "I'm hilarious." Even Ruby smiled at such a statement. It did not take long for them to reach the opulent menagerie that was the Cullen house. Esme was already waiting for them at the front entrance, her pin curls neatly coiffed and her lavender dress billowingly lightly in the mountain breeze. As soon as Ruby shifted her car into park, Carlisle emerged as well wearing a grey sweater and beige slacks. As usual, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen were the epitome of the nuclear vampire family.

"I'm so glad you made it." Carlisle beamed softly. "I wish again it was under happier circumstances."

"Uh-huh." Ruby moaned in exhaustion. "Point me in the direction of your whiskey and comfiest bed, friend."

"Oh, yes, please come in," Esme stated while leading her up the stairs and into the house. "You must be very tired from the drive." Carlisle addressed Helen as the two of them began to walk up as well, "how have you been settling into the new house? Are you having any difficulty feeding?"

"All's been as good as can be expected." She stated truthfully. "I haven't been found by the guard or from the megalomaniac asshole himself. How have you been?"

"Better." He admitted while closing the front door. As soon as they were in the house, Helen saw Ruby make a b-line for the drink cart, clearly something they only had set up for her. All of the Cullen children were lounging in the living area, including Bella Swan, Edward's human girlfriend. She watched her crouch slightly closer to him as soon as Helen walked in, not that Helen blamed her at all. As soon as she caught a whiff of the girl's lovely scent her mouth filled with venom. This time, however, it was easier to swallow and push down as Carlisle motioned for her to sit down on an adjacent chair.

"Helen, Ruby, I cannot thank you enough for coming up and especially at this hour." Carlisle addressed kindly. "I apologize for the short notice but we have unfortunate news regarding the situation in Seattle."

"What's happened exactly? You mentioned in your phone call to me that they were coming here, but why?" Ruby asked while spooning some ice in her drink.

"Yes," Carlisle responded. "As we've said before there has been the issue of newborns terrorizing Seattle. Given the magnitude of the human deaths being reported it is only a matter of time before the Volturi step in and handle it themselves, as you've previously mentioned, Helen."

Helen nodded, her mind briefly flickering back to the night that Aro had convened the coven to decide how to approach the situation. The same night he decided to murder everyone she loved, she bitterly reminded herself.

The blond-headed male, Jasper, walked over from one of the chairs in the far corner of the room and approached her. "Did Aro or Caius say any dates? Who they were sending? Is there anything you can remember about the specifics?"

"No, I'm sorry," Helen said sheepishly. "All they talked about was that they needed to send a small fraction of the guard, but because Aro knows that Alice is watching his decisions," she motioned to the pixie-haired vampire who gave her a consoling look, "they would let elites decide amongst themselves. Probably Jane, maybe Felix or Demetri. I don't know any more than that."

"I can't watch the decisions of every vampire that I came in contact with while we were in Volterra." Alice also addressed, "I could probably stretch it out to Jane, but I'm also watching Aro, Victoria, Bella and Bella's family. If I add anyone else then something is going to get lost in the mix."

"Has Aro decided anything lately?" Helen asked with morbid curiosity. Alice expected this answer and replied, "nothing that should alarm you or your family. He's going back and forth between his decisions on that, though, he was going to come to the States but then decided to stay. The last thing I saw was him deciding to execute the guard who caused you to slip out, but again, not surprising."

"We'll have to go up in a week or two, after your graduation." Carlisle summarized, gesturing to his children. "So as not to arouse suspicion as to why we aren't there. That brings me to my next point," He faced Helen directly. "Helen, would you be so kind as to help us prepare for combat against newborns?"

Ah, so that was why she needed to come up after all. She was the closest thing they had to prepare with, against a freshly changed vampire.

"I mean, I get your point." She admitted. "But, I'm not a fighter so I don't know how much help I'd actually be."

"Your strength would allow us to prepare, is all." Jasper addressed her this time instead of Carlisle, she wondered why exactly. "It would be helpful to have an idea of what we're going against. It's been a long time since I've dealt with newborn prowess, and the rest of my family has never had to face one. I doubt the vampires in Seattle would have much more combat skill than you."

"Not only that," Carlisle stated again, clasping his hands together, "we're needing to watch over Bella. A nomad passed through her house earlier today and we need more numbers if we're going to do that and prepare for Seattle."

"Another protection detail?" Rosalie spat out in annoyance. Helen assumed they were referring to the incident Aro had vaguely described as occurring last year, another nomad that had tried to kill her and the vengeful doings of his mate.

"Rosalie," Esme warned in a stern voice, like a cross grandmother of sorts. Bella waved a hand in assurance, not wanting to cause any trouble. "No, Esme, she's right. You can't protect me, search for the intruder, watch my Dad and Victoria, and still have time to feed even if Helen helps us out."

Edward looked at her with a concerned exasperation. "Bella, sweetheart we'll find a way to manage."

"Actually, Edward I have an idea that might help us do that," Bella stated softly. "Jacob Black could help us if I asked him to."

Helen didn't know who Jacob Black was but that very name made Edward grimace and every single member of the Cullen clan look nervous. Ruby read the room and took a swig of scotch while she waited for someone to fill in the blanks.

"Absolutely not." Edward hissed. "I will not compromise your safety by allowing those wolves to get too close." Helen had another ah-ha! moment, when she realized he was referring to the local werewolves the Cullen's had something of a cold war with. Everything about this strange coven just kept getting more and more curious.

"Edward," Carlisle said softly. "It's not a bad idea. I won't ask the wolves to help us fight the newborn army but if they can alleviate some time management that would be prudent."

Bella placed a consoling hand on him, "Jacob is my friend, Edward. He would help us if I asked him to. Please, just do this for me?" Edward didn't have time for a reaction because as soon as he spoke to say something, he instead turned to Alice, who almost appeared limp in her seat.

"Alice! Alice, love, come back!" Jasper lightly shook her out of her stupor. "What did you see?" Alice had blinked a few times before regaining her composure and addressing the room. "The Volturi, Aro has asked the elite guard to have the Seattle envoys selected within one week in order to prepare their transportation and take care of some last-minute business in the area."

"We'll have to prepare then," Carlisle said gravely. "Even if Aro doesn't come up himself we can't let them catch even a whiff of Helen or Ruby's scents in the area or they'll comb the entire west coast for them. Helen, would you be able to help us prepare? It would just be combat practice only."

"So I'd basically act as a sentient punching bag?" Helen snorted. Emmett laughed lightly at that and smirked at her, "what's the matter Little Red? Afraid you'll get your ass kicked?"

"By you? The John Cena of vampires? Yes." Helen admitted rather snarkily.

"I promise that we will not harm you, Helen," Carlisle assured. "Have you ever done any self-defense or martial arts training?"

"I took Karate for two weeks when I was ten if that counts." She admitted dryly. "It was kinda boring and then the studio closed unexpectedly."

"Budget cuts?" Bella asked in curiosity, trying to make conversation. "No," Helen admitted with pursed lips. "Believe it or not my instructor was arrested for selling meth and apparently he was laundering money there as well. Fun fact, my Dad's former department was the one who ran the sting."

"Really, Hendricks?" Ruby scoffed in annoyance as everyone either laughed or tried very hard not to.

"Look it up, Ruby." Helen snapped. "It's public fucking record."

"Anyhow," Carlisle tried suppressing a smile. "Any help at all would be appreciated and then hopefully nothing else will interfere with me teaching you how to properly control your powers."

"If only Aro had decided who was going and exactly when," Alice admitted in annoyance. "At least we could know what we're up against. At the very least I doubt he'll make another decision like that if it's as you say."

Carlisle nodded in assurance. "Yes, well, at least we have something." He glanced toward Ruby who was rubbing her eyes and looking at her watch. "Ruby, I apologize I know it's getting late. We can work out the details tomorrow, in the meantime, Edward go ahead and take Bella home for now. I'll show the girls to our spare rooms."

Before Helen could grab the duffel bag she had brought, Carlisle had grabbed both it and Ruby's small suitcase. Always the accommodating boy scout. He lead them both down the hallway and towards two adjacent rooms, both in various shades of bronze and earth tones. Helen took note of that while Ruby's room had been set up with a king-size bed, her own room simply had a futon and two divans in the event she wanted to relax.

"We don't have another bed at the moment, Helen, if that's alright" Carlisle responded at her notice. Helen shrugged and took her bag from him. Ruby did the same and slammed the door with a simple, "night." Probably because she didn't want to take any chances with not having a bed.

Helen rolled her eyes at her and responded. "I'll be fine but thank you. Is it alright if I walk around the house a little bit?"

"Of course, make yourself right at home. I have to head up to the hospital for a moment to check on a patient in intensive care, but Esme is available if you need anything." With that, Carlisle smiled sweetly and began heading towards the back garage in the house. Helen sat her bag down on the dark gold futon, admiring the pattern on the pillows.

She loved this room, truly, it had such nice big windows that showed the lush green of the Washington mountains. Helen thought about calling Aggie and checking in on her as her Dad had mentioned, but she realized rather quickly that she was probably asleep by now. It was still so strange to her that vampires couldn't sleep even if they wanted to. It was a challenge to find ways to occupy night time. There were truly only so many movies and books she could entertain herself with before she got bored. Not to mention, Ruby was usually sleeping during the day whenever she was home, only waking just for a minute to watch Helen feed outside in the cover of night. She hoped soon it would be alright for her to feed on animals unsupervised.

Hell, at least in Volterra, Helen had people to talk to in order to pass the long hours of the night.

As soon as she thought that, Helen felt an immediate surge of guilt. How dare she try and normalize her time being Aro's plaything? That was a horrible thing to think, even if she felt that it was true. Bringing up the Volturi did give Helen a dangerous and stupid idea. She hadn't spoken to him since their confrontation in her old room, no doubt he was still furious at her. Still, the Cullen's were now at risk of getting involved with the Volturi because of the newborn situation. It wouldn't hurt too much to dip a toe in and see if Aro told her something even somewhat useful.

Jesus, the thought of seeing him again made her skin crawl. But she could possibly help the Cullen's this way, and they were at the very least doing everything they could to help her.

She wouldn't know where to begin, though, she had never tried contacting Aro directly herself. Usually, she just felt him push against her mind and then she would ignore the call. She closed her bedroom door and walked towards Carlisle's study. The rest of the Cullen family had dispersed so she wouldn't be interrupted as she opened one of the double glass doors.

She didn't know what she was looking for, but maybe he had some kind of book or notes about how to use the sire bond. As soon as she walked in, she was greeted by the faces of Carlisle and the Volturi Brothers in the large painting that hung over a record player. She had seen it before, but it unnerved her even more now. Carlisle had explained that it was painted in the 18th century during his time there. Francesco Solimena had taken to portray them almost god-like. Aro in particular, smug as a snake in his black cloak and gold dress wear.

"I see you, motherfucker." Helen hissed. "I see you and I know what you are." She took a deep breath and closed the glass door to the study. Carlisle had a black leather couch up against a wall, she laid down and took another breath.

_'Okay, how did I do this last time? Do I just think about him or try to get in his headspace?'_

Whatever she needed to do was beginning to work, for Helen felt the too-familiar spinning and bright white light engulf her before she could even protest what was being done.

* * *

When she readjusted her eyes, Helen realized that she was in fact in another room. After a few more seconds, she realized she was standing in Aro's study, the darkly lit room with leather chairs and ancient bookcases where he had boasted to her about how he found her the first time. He had the fire lit as well, the color of the flames licking the dark burgundy walls. In the corner of her eye, she saw him seated in his desk chair reading a very worn book, probably at least a few centuries old. He was not looking at her, but she saw the dangerous smile play on his lips.

"I didn't realize it was visiting hours." He stated with smug merriment. "I would have changed locale first."

She gawped at him and swallowed back an insult, he glanced at her and pursed his lips together. "Close your mouth, sweetling, you look like a fish."

"Yeah, fuck you, too." She sneered and it earned her a hearty laugh from him. To anyone else, there could not have been a lovelier laugh that emitted from him, but instead, it just made her skin crawl. She truly hated how condescending he was.

"Oh, I have missed you, darling Helen." He closed his book and turned to face her, his smile had too much satisfaction, too much arrogance for her taste. "Please have a seat. We simply must _catch up_ as your American people say."

Helen buried her hands in the pockets of her green canvas jacket and frowned again. "No thanks, I'll stand."

"Suit yourself, my dear," Aro replied happily, his crimson eyes studying her, probably deciding how he was going to approach any discussion with her. "You could have at least made yourself somewhat presentable for me. Though, perhaps I've simply grown accustomed to you wearing proper clothes for a young lady. Now you're back to your own appalling taste."

He sighed before adding, "another error I will be sure to correct."

She hissed out and slammed her hands on his desk, the act only making him smile brighter, happy to get under her nerves. "Well, then I should count my blessings that I'm not your fucking Barbie doll anymore."

"Oh yes," he scoffed in mock sympathy. "How terrible your life was with me. Having such nice clothes, luxurious items, and every wish or want to be granted at a moment's notice. Please don't forget to leave any of those horrible things out as you recap your sordid tale of woe, Helen."

Helen began to snarl at him before she took a deep breath. "You know what? I'm not fucking here to let you push my buttons."

"Of course not." He smiled sweetly now, "so why are you here then, darling girl? Have you come to your senses and finally admitted to yourself that despite your hard-edged persona, you are quite lonely after all? That you actually do miss your adoring father?"

She returned his sickly sweet smile with one of her own. She wanted to strike him in the softest part of his underbelly, where she knew it would hurt the most. "I actually am quite fine, Aro, I saw my Dad last week. I hugged him and told him how much I loved him and missed him and how happy I was to see him. Can't say you'll receive the same treatment, but then again, I'm not your daughter."

He kept his smile while he stood up to try and tower over her, he gave no indication at how much that phrase angered him, but she could swear she heard him repress a growl. "What a lovely homecoming you must have had, dear. I am truly glad you got to experience that."

"Oh?" She clucked her tongue. "Are you?"

"Yes dearest, of course, I am." He smiled even brighter. "It will be all the more satisfying to rip it all away from you. Now, answer my question please."

"I needed to talk to you," Helen admitted softly while folding her arms, she had an idea building in her head. "I needed to see you." Aro eyed her slightly and sighed before sitting back down. "Your room is still made up for you, Helen, you could see me whenever you liked."

"You know that is not what I mean, Aro." Helen rolled her eyes. "Can we just cut the shit?"

Aro sighed and clasped his hands together. "Very well, I don't suppose you could blame for trying to make an effort with you. Despite all of your impertinence and cruelty, I miss you very much and hope for the day you come to your senses for both of our sakes." She briefly glanced down at his finger where a light scar had formed as the result of him having to reseal the wound with his venom. She wanted to start screaming at him for daring to call her cruel, but she had her own agenda to deal with rather than just yelling at him.

"I'm sorry I broke your finger." She huffed out, with a bashful look of remorse. It wasn't entirely true, she was sorry she acted rashly but she was not sorry for the pain it made him endure. She did watch him look at her with a surprised face, clearly not expecting that. "It was a stupid, impulsive decision I made in anger. I shouldn't have done it, and I'm sorry."

"Well," Aro breathed. "This is a surprising turn of events. That was very mature of you. Though, if I do recall you had no issue doing it to me, a, what was it? Oh yes, a motherfucking evil prick as you put it."

She exhaled in annoyance and sat down in the chair he offered earlier, amazed at how real everything felt in the sire bond. "I'm not going to apologize for being angry with you that night. Or for anything else you've ever done to me. Your lies, your games, your abuse. I will never apologize for any reaction to any of that."

"Abuse?" Aro sneered at her, his eyes almost hurt by the word. "I treated you better than anyone else ever has! Oh, how convenient it is for you to put your human idiot up on a pedestal and ignore all of my generosity. Need I remind you that you confessed to me the night I almost brought you home that not only was he a drunk but he hit you when you were a child! How easy it is for you to forget that! Yet when I make you the best version of yourself that you could be, I am labeled an abuser? How dare you!"

Helen scoffed at his words, her face incredulous. "How dare I? You brought me here because you wanted me to be here! You tried to kidnap me that night, you terrorized me in those woods! You set your thugs on us! You ate away at my sanity and strength to try and break me! You threatened to kill everyone I have ever loved when I didn't give you what you wanted! Then you fucking decided to do it anyway! Oh and let us not forget you forced me to become a vampire! You made me into a murderer! I will never forgive you for that! NEVER!"

"I was someone you loved." Aro's face had distorted in pain, anger, and upset. "Or do you forget that too? How easy it is for you to pick and choose who gets to be vilified. You did love me, I know that, and I know that there is some part of you that still does. The part of you that terrifies you, Helen. The thing that scared you so much you ran away. I like to call that part of you Lady Helen."

A dark smile formed on his face as he watched her recoil in disgust.

"You're a bastard! You are a fucking bastard!" Helen hissed. "You are a repulsive, psychotic, entitled boil growing on a wet monkey's ass! I know what your love looks like! I would cut my own brain out before I'd have to go back to hearing you call me that! You sick fuck!"

"Then why are you here?" He snarled, riled up and angry. "If you truly feel that way, why are you here?"

Helen paused and sneered at him, biting her tongue. She was only going to get one chance at this, she had to make this opportunity count as much as she could, and catch him as much off guard as possible.

"Or do you not know?" He laughed cruelly. "Kind of like how you don't know the first thing about me. I loved you as best as I could, I gave you whatever you wanted. You betrayed me and I'm going to punish you for it."

"What are you gonna do?" Helen scoffed incredulously. "Put me over your knee and spank me?"

"Perhaps I should since you've decided to act like such a child." He seethed. "No, I think you deserve something far more permanent for what you've done. I just can't decide which of your pitiful human pets should die first. If you think this will end well for any of them after what you've done, then I suggest you get some perspective. They could have passed on from this world quickly and all of our troubles ended. Instead, you have made a decision that will bring them nothing but immense suffering. Such a selfish girl you are."

"If you think this ends with me just letting you kill them, then I don't know what to tell you either." Helen scoffed in amazement. "So, I'm here to ask you, to leave all of us alone. If you love me, if anything you have ever said to me is true, please stop. Please, just leave me fucking be. You and I are not good for each other, I think we've proven that. We each want the other to be something different, something we just can't be. So just fuck off, okay! Stop the threats, stop pulsing against my head, stop fucking around with me and the people I care about! I have enough bullshit to deal with because of you already! I don't get to see my Dad anymore because trying to get into America from London is a pain in the fucking ass-"

"Wait." Aro smiled darkly. "What did you just say, dear?"

Helen stopped dead in her tracks. She tried her best to look terrified, to look as though she just let the cat out od the bag. "Nothing. I meant something different."

"Well," he chuckled at her rather meanly. "Isn't this such a wonderful tiding for me after all? Oh, thank you for making my work so much easier Helen, I don't know how I'll ever repay you. What luck? Oh, what a helpful little girl you are. I can have the jet ready to take me and the guard to look for you in less than an hour. We'll be there in three, which is hardly enough time for you to try and avoid us. Truly, my dear, you have gifted me something wonderful tonight."

"No!" Helen screamed in her best fake scream possible. "That's not what I meant! Don't try and twist this around!"

"Oh but I think you did, my darling." He forcefully grabbed her hand and plant a kiss on her palm, his smile so condescending and cruel. "Or perhaps my wonderful little daughter is just perfectly stupid enough for me. No matter, it suits me just fine."

She removed his hand to try and slap him but he caught her wrist just in time. "Now, now, save that energy of yours, Helen. Think of some more little foul-mouthed insults. You can relay them to me later. Maybe then we can see if you actually have enough courage to try and have your bite match your bark."

"You're wasting your time." Helen sneered as he took out his phone to probably dial the pilot. She couldn't believe this was working out in her way, everything lining up as she needed it. He'd spend days looking for her in London, by the time he realized she had lied then the Cullen's would have taken care of the Seattle situation and the Volturi would be none the wiser to her real location.

"Do be a little quieter, dear." He shooed at her.

"I'm saving you a trip, you're gonna waste your time looking for me." She hissed out. "Maybe I'll make a break for it in the Atlantic Ocean by the time you get there."

"If you find a way to manage acting as a floatation device for that dreadful drunk, I will happily enjoy watching that from the view and comfort of my yacht," Aro replied happily. "I'll deal with you in a little while, darling girl. Why don't you go clean up and put on something more appropriate for our reunion? Goodbye for now, Helen Hendricks."

He waved her dismissively and Helen felt the familiar pulling and bright lights return as she began heading back towards her own body. Only when she came to back in Carlisle's study, did she give as mean of a smile as Aro had given her.

_'Sucker.'_

* * *

_Aro had returned to the Family Room merrily humming one of his favorite tunes, Symphony No. 38, and while he might have thought it gauche if it was anyone else making such an obvious spectacle of themselves, he was in too good of a mood to care about long-established protocol._

_Humming about like a frivolous fool, Aro was greeted by the odd stares of Caius, Athenodora, Marcus, and Sulpicia. He smiled sweetly and picked up one of the flute glasses filled from the previous afternoon's leftovers. The warm delicacy was never as satisfying as a fresh kill but it was still a comfort nonetheless._

_"Have you finally lost whatever sense you had left?" Caius asked, brow raised. "Even for you, this is an unusually good mood."_

_"I received some delightful news this morning, dear brother," Aro responded with a chipper tone. There was a beat of silence, the room awaiting context. There was another beat before Anthenodora interjected. "Are you planning on telling us or is this some ridiculous guessing game that the humans have taken fad to?"_

_"I have news on the Helen Hendricks situation, sister." Aro smiled coyly, his amusement only causing her ire. Sulpicia perked up at this statement while Marcus cast a slightly interested glance. Caius sighed in annoyance and gave a petulant smile, "and what news is this? Speak plainly, you impertinent buffoon."_

_Aro merrily motioned for the guard in front of the door, Santiago, who immediately appeared in front of him at attention. "Santiago, be a dear and fetch Jane for me."_

_The cloaked vampire nodded and left the room with a whoosh of his cloak at top vampire speed. Caius stared at Aro incredulously as the mischievous immortal had yet to answer his question and he was beginning to get even more impatient. Athenodora gave Sulpicia a confused look and the blonde vampire could do nothing but give a shrug and return the gesture._

_Mere moments later, Santiago made way with the tiny vampire, Jane filing in with a determined look in her cold eyes. She had been something of a comfort to her Master during this time of turmoil in the Family. He had always had a dear affection for her blind admiration of him, and an appreciation for her gifts. He never had an impolite or defiant audience so long as she had any subjects under her watchful eye._

_Still, she was not his Helen. She did not spark life in him the way that his little one did._

_"Masters." Jane did a quick curtsy before standing at attention. "Mistresses. How may I be useful for you?"_

_"Jane, dear, has the Elite selected amongst themselves who will journey to Seattle and take care of our little problem?" Aro asked with pursed lips as he sipped his drink. In truth, he already knew who would go. He knew them better than they knew themselves. Even still, he grew concerned that Alice Cullen might be a little too nosy for his current schemes. Not to mention, it served him well to give the Elite Guard the illusion of choice every now and then._

_"I believe so, Master Aro, Alec, and I have volunteered to lead this expedition and believe that taking Felix and Demetri should result in a satisfactory outcome." Her eye shined hopefully. "If it pleases you, of course."_

_Aro could not have smiled a lovelier smile in front of her, choosing his words carefully. "If it pleases you, my dear, then, of course, I will be delighted. The decision is ultimately yours and I trust you completely."_

_Caius and Marcus eyed Aro warily but did not object to their increasing confusions. "Of course before you depart I wonder if I might request a service from your newly formed task force."_

_"We will acquire whatever you wish from us, sir." Jane bowed her head lightly in affirmation. Aro nodded in acknowledgment and continued. "I want you to take the Volturi airliner and look for Helen Hendricks in London over the next few days. I want a full status report in one week and then you may decide if you have searched sufficiently and continue on to the New World."_

_The whole room grew flushed with attention as Sulpicia eagerly awaited whatever information her husband had on their daughter. Caius perked to full attention with his wife also waiting for any further details. Marcus reflected his interest by sitting up half an inch in his chair, signaling him listening in. Jane blinked only once and continued her respectful address. "Of course, Master Aro, would Thomas have the necessary intelligence report on where she was spotted?"_

_"Oh no, my dear, Thomas nor anyone else would have information on her current location, including myself," Aro explained lightly. Jane did her best to hide her confusion and responded. "May I ask why we would search for her then? We will do our absolute best to find her if that is the case."_

_"She used the sire bond to visit with me and told me she was there, it sort of slipped out of her." Aro sighed. "However, I don't really believe she actually is there. Not for a moment. Even Helen is not so stupid as to go through so much effort to hide only to reveal herself quite easily."_

_"Then why are you having them search for her there?" Caius hissed in annoyance. "You would dedicate countless resources for a fruitless search and delay the Seattle excursion? For what? So you and the little brat can drive us up the walls with your impudence? Such children!"_

_"Cai-us," Aro replied in a sing-song voice. "You are not listening, brother. It matters not that I or anyone else think that Helen is truly in London." He smiled darkly. "It only pertains to if a_ decision _is made that appears so. Say, if someone had the ability to watch me decide what direction the search would take."_

_It took only a minute for Jane and Caius to return the dark smile, both looking as though they had been let in on the joke. It took another minute for Sulpicia and Athendora to also be clued in and reciprocate as well._

_Marcus made no signal on if he understood or not, but his silence did not serve as an objection to anyone there._

_"Of course, Master, I will look for her thoroughly at your instruction. We will leave no stone unturned." Jane giggled lightly earning a chuckle from Aro. "See that you do, my dear. Tear the city apart if it pleases you as long as diligence is done. This morning's events only serve to further confirm a small theory I have."_

_"What might that be?" Dora asked._

_"That our girl might not be well hidden as the criminals involved think so." Aro mused. "Still, that is an errant thought for another day. It is not coincidental that when one decision is made that another one follows suit. As I said, sister, just an errant thought. You are dismissed, Jane dear, you may depart in a few hours after we execute Sebastian."_

_Jane curtsied once more and quickly left the room, a bloodthirsty look on her cherubic face. Sulpicia frowned at the girl as she left the room but immediately turned to her husband afterward with a renewed vigor in her eyes._

_"You saw her? Was she alright?" Sulpicia asked hopefully. Aro placed a comforting hand on her thigh, pleased that she seemed more like herself for the first time in weeks. He kissed her hairline in assurance before speaking._

_"Unkempt and poorly dressed, but yes dear she was alright. She could do with a bath soon, but I suppose it was better than nothing. Next time I might survey her whereabouts as opposed to having a talk in our own territory. I was truly surprised she returned the call to visit." Aro smiled, hunger also renewed in his eyes._

_"She truly has no idea what she has done."_

* * *

**Word count: 12,186**

**<https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8864394/1/My-Pointe-Of-View> **


	2. Jar of Hearts

Chapter Two: Jar of Hearts

**Hello, my lovelies! I hope everyone is staying safe and getting by without too much stress. The world is very confusing right now and I'm sure you're all tired of every author posting a quarantine message at the top of their fic but please continue to shelter in place and practice social distancing in order to help flatten the curve. I just wanted to say that this chapter is all about coming to terms with some hard parts of yourself, even if you don't want to deal with them, in order to begin healing. I think that's something that maybe a few of us might need at the moment. This wasn't my favorite chapter to write but I hope you all do enjoy it.**

**Warning: contains depictions of emotional trauma, drug use, smoking, cursing, narcissistic/emotional abuse POV, and death. As always reader discretion is advised if any of this might trigger you, especially when it comes to Aro's POV.**

* * *

_I hear you're asking all around if I am anywhere to be found. But I have grown too strong, to ever fall back in your arms - Christina Perri_

* * *

"We have at least one week before the Volturi will head to Seattle." Alice had summoned the entire Cullen family sans Bella Swan once both Carlisle and Edward returned a little while later. "Maybe more. I saw Aro decide to use the Elite Guard that had been selected search for Helen in London first." Ruby had been pulled out of bed wearing her old t-shirt and a pair of black panties, not even bothering to put on pants as she rubbed her bloodshot tired eyes and tied her frizzy brown hair up.

"Why would he look for her there?" Ruby asked in an exasperated and groggy tone. "Why now?"

"I don't know why," Alice replied. "My visions only allow me to see decisions, not the context for them."

"He sent them there because that's where he thinks I am," Helen admitted. "I used the sire bond to talk to him and tricked him into thinking I was there." There was a sharp pause as everyone looked at Helen in incredible disbelief. Ruby's eyes shot completely open before her face twisted in frustration and concern. Carlisle looked shocked, he buried his face in the plan of his hand and she heard him emit a light groan.

"Hendricks why the fuck would you do that?" Ruby snarled. "Are you fucking trying to hand yourself over on a silver platter and get everyone here beheaded?"

"Of course not." Helen snapped back. "I didn't tell him anything about anyone here. I only did it to try and buy us all some time to take care of the Seattle newborns. You heard Alice, now we have at least one week before we need to worry about them showing up unannounced."

"That's beside the point," Carlisle responded. "I know you were trying to help Helen but you cannot under any circumstances do that again. Any communication you have with him is dangerous and the slightest slip up will result in all of us being caught."

"Exactly _how_ did you manipulate him?" Edward asked. "Forgive me if I find it difficult to believe you pulled one over on him, but you are a child."

"I made it seem like he got it out of me." Helen huffed. "I pretended to get emotional and acted like it slipped out by accident." The rest of the group didn't seem satisfied with that answer. "Scouts honor, I did not give anything else away. He and I yelled at each other for a little bit and then he sent me back once he thought that I had told him where I was. Clearly, it worked because Alice just said he sent the guard to London."

"Hendricks." Ruby sighed with great annoyance. "Ugh, fine. Do not do that again."

"Do not act like I just fucked this up. I bought you all one week at a minimum. With the sire bond, I can keep tabs on what they're planning on doing much more than any of you can." Helen snorted. "Oh, and by the way Edward, me being a child has _nothing_ to do with this. You might be a mind reader but I actually just spend the last six months of my life playing daughter to him. If you think that I did that without picking up some tricks to keep him at bay then you don't know him as well as you think you do."

"You don't need to get hysterical." Edward narrowed his eyes. "It was a question."

For a moment, Helen saw red as she listened to his condescension. She hadn't even said a word before Carlisle quickly cut in and calmly shooed them. "Please, let's not argue amongst ourselves, especially at a time like this. Helen, if you say you convinced him then I believe you but Ruby is right."

"Do not do this again," Ruby repeated, staring dead straight at her. "Say that you will not try and contact him anymore."

"Ruby," Helen whined.

"Repeat it, Hendricks." Ruby sneered. "Or I swear to fuck I will call Richard. You don't want me to nag you about this? Imagine how ticked off he'll be, then."

Helen groaned. "You're seriously threatening to tell my Dad on me? You do understand that right?"

"One," Ruby warned, making Helen scoff in disbelief. "Two. Don't you dare make me get to three."

"Fine." She hissed, incredulous, and shocked at how infantile she was being treated by them. "I promise not to contact Aro anymore with the sire bond. Satisfied?"

"Very." Ruby frowned and then turned her attention back to Carlisle. "Alright, how do you want to play this? We have extra time now so there's some wiggle room to map this out."

"Extra time thanks to me," Helen grumbled under her breath, all it got her was another warning glare from Ruby and a chuckle from Emmett and Jasper's lips. She hated this. She hadn't expected gratitude for what she did but she certainly didn't enjoy the fact that she was getting scolded by two practical strangers for trying and succeeding in helping this plan. _'Who the fuck do they think they are? I fucking know that Aro is dangerous and yet I'm being treated like an idiot for what I did. Ruby is not my mother or even remotely my parental figure. She's just some bitchy woman who thinks she can tell me what to do. Treating me like a child, infantilizing me. That's exactly what fucking Aro and Sulpicia did. Set's my fucking teeth on edge just thinking about it.'_

"Hendricks," Ruby called out to her, interrupting her inner rant. "Did you get that? We're staying for the whole week while you help them train for Seattle."

Helen rolled her eyes and sneered back. "You sure you can trust me with that?"

"Oh shut up you little brat." Ruby snapped. "You're really worked up right now you know that? Jesus."

"Why don't we all just cool off for a moment?" Esme interjected. "This can all be worked out in the morning, I think we should all regroup then when we've all had time to digest this."

"I need a smoke." Ruby disregarded Esme and grabbed her jacket from the coat rack in the foyer, pulling out a pack of Marlboro Gold's and an antique-looking silver lighter. Before Ruby was about to light it, Esme cleared her throat rather loud and eyed Ruby with little decorum. "Outside if you please, Ruby."

Ruby nodded and walked out the front door. At that, the tension in the room finally dropped as the rest of the Cullen children dispersed amongst themselves. Helen eyed the front door rather coldly, still a little pissed at the dressing down she had just received from the witch. As she was turning around to head back to her room she was stopped by Esme who gave her a rather warm and apologetic smile. "I hope you're not too angry with her she's just trying to keep you safe."

"She treats me like a child or better yet like I'm stupid." Helen huffed. "She just walks around giving me orders and claiming she knows me and gives me no reason as to why I should believe her."

"To be fair Helen, you are in many ways still a child." Esme shrugged. "I know it may not feel that way because of what you went through and what Aro made you endure but you are still very young. You aren't stupid but that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to those with more experience dealing with this."

Helen didn't say anything and blinked at the woman in front of her. She could tell she was trying to be kind or even a little motherly to her and while Helen didn't unappreciate the attempt, frankly, she'd had enough random vampires trying to parent her as it was.

"Anyway," Esme stated after sensing that she wasn't making much headway. "I think you should talk to her. It doesn't help anyone if we're all at each other's throats."

"Thanks for the advice," Helen responded cooly. Esme nodded and gave a defeated smile before walking back upstairs. Helen huffed and leaned against the wall. She did feel like she was being a little too shitty to everyone right now. She snapped at Ruby, Carlisle, Esme for trying to help her. She snapped at Edward for asking a valid question. It felt like lately all she did was get mad at someone, even if they were just trying to help. It just bothered her for some reason, every time someone told her what she needed to do it just got her all tightly wound and bitchy.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. It was past one o'clock in the morning, easily an hour ahead in Denver, Colorado where her friends and family were at. Still, she had been wanting to call Aggie for the past few hours now and even if she just got a voicemail it would help just to try.

It rang about three times before she heard her friend answer in a clear voice. " _Hello? Helen?_ "

"Aggie!" Helen blinked in shock. She hadn't expected her to pick up the phone at all. Helen quickly walked away from the parlor and down the hall to where a tiny desk had been propped up against the wall with a respective chair, taking a seat. "I'm sorry did I wake you?"

" _No, not at all. Syd actually brewed a pot of coffee and we were watching movies in the living room with Wesley, trying not to wake your Dad. You have to come and see us soon, Nells, our house is right next to this giant lake and it's so pretty._ " Aggie said happily. It made Helen smile, to hear that she wanted her to come to visit them, to hear that they were having a good time.

"That's great, Aggs. I'm so glad you guys are doing alright." Helen replied with a somber smile. It tugged at her that she couldn't be with them right now, reopening what was already a constantly cut wound.

" _Is everything okay? You sound upset._ " Aggie asked with concern, her voice slightly above a whisper.

"Just dealing with some shit, honestly some same old bullshit that I do very well," Helen admitted. Aggie chuckled lightly at that statement before replying. " _Well, at least you're consistent with how often you get snippy. I always told you that your hair was red for a reason_."

"Not an excuse," Helen admitted with disdain. "I feel like all I do lately is get angry at even the smallest thing."

" _Did something happen?_ " Aggie asked with even more concern. " _Do you want me to get your Dad?_ "

"No, but can you get somewhere private? I really don't want to tell anyone else what I did right now." Helen asked and she heard a worried inhale on the other line. "No one's dead but I need to talk to someone about it."

" _Hold on_." There was a rustling as a door opened and closed. She could hear a faint breeze and deduced that Aggie must have gone to their porch or patio. " _Okay, what happened_?"

* * *

"So that's the extent of it," Helen confessed, recapping the night's events up to her and Ruby biting each other's heads off. "Do you think I should have done it? I don't even fucking know now."

" _Do I think you should have had a conversation with a psychopath who wants to murder all of us and continue to torment you?_ " Aggie asked very matter-of-factly." _Well, the answer is obviously no because I would prefer to stay alive. I can where you_ thought _you were doing a good thing. It worked out for you this time as far as you know."_

"That's basically what everyone else said too," Helen admitted, guilty. "What would you have done if you could?"

" _Probably spend a few minutes telling him to eat shit._ " Aggie laughed. " _Honestly I don't know but I agree with everyone else. It's not good for anyone especially you to talk to Aro even if all you do is cuss him out and throw off his trail. That dickhead deserves it but you can't risk everything after we finally got a leg-up on him."_

"I'm not usually that impulsive, even for me that was bold," Helen admitted. "What's wrong with me?"

" _You have this great idea that it's up to you to save everyone, Supergirl_." Aggie deadpanned. " _You always have good intentions but you need to take a backseat on this. You also need to listen to other people besides me and your Dad when you're asked to keep your head down."_

"I'm an idiot you're right." Helen sighed.

 _"You're only an idiot if you let this one thing you did be the thing you get upset about."_ Aggie retorted. " _You're also not going to throw a pity party with me, Nellie Lou. I'm not giving you any validation on this. Just accept it and move on."_

"Can I tell you something?" Helen asked in a small voice, her mind getting a dangerous thought. Aggie gave her an _mmhmm_ and braced herself. "It's weird not talking to him every day. I'm so used to seeing him and having to brace myself for whatever I needed to say in order to keep him happy. It was exhausting and I hated it, but now that I'm not doing it," She paused for. a moment. "It's like I don't even know what to do with myself."

" _Hooked on the pain."_ Aggie surmised. " _I think you just got so used it. Maybe your brain just wanted to get back to where it was before. I don't know."_

"Does that mean anything about me?" Helen asked in a worried tone.

" _I think it means you need help and I don't mean that as a joke. You need to separate yourself from the box he put you in or else he just wins in a different way."_ Aggie paused and thought to herself for a moment. " _He has no power over you anymore."_

"I wish I felt the same as you did." Helen gritted her teeth. "But I'll die before I'd go back under his thumb."

" _Don't talk like that,"_ Aggie said with renewed concern. " _I mean it. Don't ever say that. We spent half a year thinking you were dead. I can't even tell you how many times Syd called me in the middle of the night crying because she dreamt that they found your body or that we were at your funeral."_

"Sorry, didn't mean it," Helen admitted bashfully. "Thank you for not yelling at me tonight."

" _Helen, I'm not mad at_ you _per se. I'm frustrated, we all are, but I'm not going to take it out on you."_ There was a crack in Aggie's voice as she asked hopefully. " _Do you think you could ask Ruby to let me see my parents soon? Just give them a phone call? I won't tell them anything I promise."_

"Aggie." Helen paused, defeat swelling in her voice. Of course, she wanted to tell her yes. Hell, if it was up to her, Sydney and Aggie would have left St. Louis with both of their families. "I can't promise she'll say yes so I don't want you to get your hopes up."

" _I miss my mom."_ Aggie sobbed lightly. _"I was so mean to her before I left. She grounded me for getting an 89 on a paper and I told her to go fuck herself. She didn't say anything she just looked so betrayed and hurt. She called me down for dinner later and I just sat in my room all night pouting. I never thought I'd miss her this much. How did you deal with it? How did you even handle being away from your Dad like this?"_

"I didn't handle it," Helen admitted, on the verge of crying dry and broken sobs. "I wasn't really allowed to be upset, or if I did it just pissed the two of them off even more. I just sort of had to push it down and when I was sent back to my room I would let it out as quietly as I could."

" _Will you promise to ask?"_ Aggie hiccuped. " _Please? For me and Syd?"_

 _"_ I promise," Helen said softly, trying not to upset her. "I can't guarantee you'll get an answer you like."

" _I'm gonna hang up now Helen. I don't want to go back in there crying and freak Sydney out. Call her too, when you get a chance, and your brothers and your Dad. I hope you know how happy we are that you aren't dead."_

"I'm happy none of you are dead, either." Helen giggled. "Goodnight Aggie." There was a slight click as the line went dead. Talking to Aggie made Helen happier but it didn't seem to get rid of any of her residual anger. If anything, being reminded of the situation just infuriated her more towards Aro and the Volturi.

_'I swear to you Aro, if there comes a day when I see you again I'm going to tear your fucking eyes right out of your skull. If not only because you just made my best friend cry.'_

Still, she needed to calm down and focus. After all, Aggie was right. If she let what Aro did continue to define her attitude and her actions it was no different then if she was still back in her gilded cage in Volterra. She couldn't visit with him anymore, Ruby and Carlisle were at least right about that. She needed to quit him cold turkey or else it was going to end badly for all of them.

Standing up, she walked over to the front door and looked through the windows, Ruby was still outside smoking. She carefully opened the door and received a side glance from the witch upon walking outside next to her. Ruby took another drag off of her cigarette and didn't bother to say a word.

Helen sighed and put her hands in her jacket pockets. "I'm sorry I got pissy with you. You're right, I shouldn't have used the sire bond to contact him."

"It's no skin off my back, Hendricks." Ruby still faced forward. "It's not as if I thought it wouldn't happen again."

"I just wanted to help," Helen admitted softly. "I wanted to do something, to be useful to everyone. You've all gone to so much trouble to help me and my family."

"You want to help? You are helping by being here and keeping your head down and your mouth shut." Ruby turned to face her and flicked the ashes of the end of her smoke. "You are helping when you do as I say when I say it. You are not helping when you take matters into your own hands and trying to manipulate the freaking Devil in order to feel like you've accomplished something. You are not in a position to do shit like that. I'm sorry but it's true, it may have worked out this time and while I'm not going to congratulate you on making it out of there alive, I do see the merit in us getting an extra week."

"I've dealt with him before though, Ruby," Helen said poignantly. "I don't see why you'd think I'd be going in there without any intuition on how to do that."

"Yes, you have." Ruby took another drag. "In which he was able to kidnap you, emotionally manipulate, gaslight and harass you until you started convincing yourself that you loved him. You know how to survive him but you are not claiming an advantage in this game. Right now, Helen, you aren't even a player, you're just a pawn."

Helen sighed and nodded in agreement.

"However." Ruby lit another cigarette. "If you do what I say for now that won't always be the case, but if you pull any shit that leads to either of us being caught I will leave you without question."

That statement shocked Helen profoundly. In all the time and things they had dealt with in the past year, Helen hadn't ever heard Ruby threaten to pull out and leave her alone.

"Shocked? Don't be. I'm willing to help you but I have my own devil that I'm hiding from and if it comes down to it, I'm saving myself. Just so we're on the same page, I want to avoid that but if you leave me with no choice I will not hesitate. Understood?" Ruby smirked and Helen nodded only once.

"Good." Ruby exhaled some smoke. There was a beat and she held out an unlit butt to Helen as a sort of haphazard peace offering. "You want one?"

"I'm fifteen." Helen furrowed her brows. "Plus I don't even think my body would be able to work with nicotine at this point."

"It's not like it will kill you." Ruby snorted jokingly. "No pressure, just offering."

"You know that stuff will give you cancer and kill you." Helen pointed out matter-of-factly. "You're better off just drinking poison."

"Do you have some?" Ruby teased while taking another hit. "I'm two hundred and seventy-eight years young so I think I'm winning this battle against dying rather successfully."

Helen scoffed and took the cigarette from the pack, placing it in between her teeth and holding her head up at more of an angle so Ruby could light it for her. She inhaled deeply as the smoke crawled in and burned her throat and lungs slightly before her body quickly adjusted and numbed the pain. She felt the high feeling from the nicotine threaten to creep up on her senses, but no sooner than it appeared did it vanish. A few more drags didn't help either, which proved her point that no matter how much she might fight it, vampire venom would burn off anything else she consumed that wasn't blood.

"Damn, Hendricks." Ruby guffawed with a little bit of a snort. "How did you know how to smoke that? I expected you to cough most of it up."

"My older brother," Helen admitted sheepishly before throwing the butt down and stepping on it with her right boot. "He smoked marijuana with his friends last year and let me try it a few times. We all got in deep shit when my Dad found out, to say the least. Not that it matters, it's not going to work at all."

"Learning experience." Ruby winked and took a smug hit off of her own cigarette. Helen scoffed and took a picture of her on her phone, which earned her nothing but a middle finger from Ruby as she bit down and smiled in the frame. It made Helen roll her eyes and smirk in delight at such a silly image of the witch.

She really was a terrible influence most of the time.

* * *

_There's nothing like the smell of ash in the morning. That's something that Aro had discovered after three thousand years of immortality, the aroma of one's burnt enemies was deliciously fragrant. Sebastian had been taken deep into the forest of the Volturi's private ground in Florence where they held more public and painful executions for those who committed especially heinous crimes. To someone who possessed a less selective conscience than Aro, it would have appeared a bit extreme to burn his traitorous guard to death for desertion, but this fool had attacked him personally. That was something that he would simply not abide._

_The guard had all gathered, cloaked, and hushed as their Masters and their Wives stood on the small stage before the unlit pyre. Felix and Santiago dragged the dirt-covered, chained, gagged, and unkempt Sebastian forward, awaiting command._

_It would appear foolish to most to have a public execution out further in Italy, but these woods belonging to the Volturi were enchanted to prevent any humans from wandering too close. They had not held such a bonfire as this in quite a long time, and truly it was more to serve as a show for those that had gathered more than that of the accused. For some of the guards on thin ice, it was a warning, for those seeking to move up in rank it was an opportunity. For the few that were a bit on the more unsavory side, this was entertainment in it's purest form, where any cheers would be welcome and relished._

_Aro looked to his right where his wife was. Sulpicia had dressed in one of her finer cloaks, her blonde hair was immaculate today. Her sheer black veil pressed and steadfast against the light breeze. Today held as much justice for her as it did for Aro, she would receive recompense for the guard that had caused their daughter to be taken away. Athenodora flanked Caius' right as well, offering her a look of support under her own respective veil. Marcus had appeared sterner today as well, a small sign of approval for what would occur._

_In one swift motion, Aro raised his hands to direct Felix and Santiago to bind the traitor to his pyre. The chains locking into place with a resounding click. The metal that rendered vampires powerless has many uses, and being indestructible was certainly one of them, no matter how hard Sebastian would writhe and wriggle to escape the flames the devices would not yield._

_"Good morning, dear ones," Aro stated with his usual merriment in his voice._

_"Good morning, Master Aro." The guard replied in unison, not a single soul dare be silent when greeting their Master in the ceremony. Aro smiled, his eyes particularly gleeful today._

_"We are all aware of the circumstances as to why we have gathered on this beautiful morning." Over his head, the sun had not threatened to creep out from behind the clouds. Cold, grey and bare. Truly a day of beauty for any vampire to be up and about. "When in fact, I am sure we would all want to be doing something else far more productive."_

_Aro sighed rather forcefully, he was trying so hard not to appear anymore outwardly gleeful. One can't have one's servants think them too cruel for comfort. "But duty requires us to take care of our needs before our wants. Am I correct my dears?"  
_

_"Yes, Master Aro." The crowd replied rather sycophantically._

_"This traitor." Aro fingered Sebastian as though he were a child caught stealing from the cookie jar, condescension dripping in his feathery voice. "Has brought shame and disgrace to your Masters and the Family. There can be no greater injustice than to dishonor those who ensure the peace and stability of our kind. There is no worse offense than to personally seek to harm your Master Aro and Mistress Sulpicia. There is no greater crime than to take a child away from their parents. Your Lady Helen will receive justice even in her absence and abduction by criminals. Wouldn't you all agree?"_

_"Yes, Master Aro and Mistress Sulpicia." The guard breathed. "We will not tolerate such disgrace." Aro nodded and turned to his left where Caius stood, Athenodora backing up slightly as his brother handed him their large golden torch. Sulpicia stepped forward more as she and her husband in unison clasped the weapon and activated the flame. Together, they lit the outermost layer of straw in the pyre and watched as the flames crept up slowly but surely, eating through every boundary until they would reach the center where Sebastian continued to squirm in terror of his inevitable death._

_They all stood there watching as the pyre continued to burn. Some jeered and laughed in amusement as Sebastian's legs started to catch fire. Others looked on with solemnity, grateful that it had not been them who had been so careless. Santiago, in particular, looked on in relief and pity. He had not been punished for leaving Lady Helen's room to join the council meeting as that was his order, but he knew in a way that had his Master not directed all of his rage and anger against Sebastian's blatant carelessness, he could have easily joined this execution more directly._

_No one took their eyes off of the display, no one dared look away and shield their eyes as Sebastian's skin burnt, cracked and dusted before them. His screams getting louder and more animalistic until his tongue was no more. It took around an hour before he was nothing more than a pile of ash and dust and soot. No trace of him was left on his Earth, he would only be remembered as the idiot traitor, an example to be set and lived by. The only remnant that remained was the chains still hooked onto the mast where his hands and feet had been bound._

_Once his death was complete, Aro commenced the guard to smother the flames with the buckets of sand they had brought, watching very carefully until the flames had completely extinguished. Only once there were no embers or risk of the fire remaining did Aro dismiss the guard to return back to the estate. A few miles away on a path near the road were two black town cars with the Leccapiedi drivers that accompanied them. Caius, Marcus, and Athenodora had entered the first car, while Aro held the second car door for his wife as she climbed in with him having followed suit._

_Once they had situated themselves in their seats, Sulpicia had lifted her veil over her face and attached it to her cap before leaning into her husband's embrace comfortably. Aro's arms wrapped around her very snugly and he whistled sharply to order the low ranking vampire to begin driving the car._

_"It's over, my love." Aro tenderly caressed her cheek. "He's paid for his sins against us."_

_"You know I truly detest coming to Florence," Sulpicia stated bitterly. "It always reeks of death here."_

_"We have had a difficult day, Sia." Aro kissed her forehead as she sighed further into his chest. "We shall be home soon and then you can relax in our bedchamber while I continue to sort out the situation."_

_"She should be here with us." Sulpicia's face hardened, anger and pain distorting it. Aro sighed and buried his nose in her hairline, taking in his wife's lovely smell. Milk and Honey, the nectar of the promised lands from their home. "Of course, darling, and she will be back soon. She'll see the error of her ways soon, I promise you, she will come back to us and apologize for what she has done and then all will be as it was before."_

_"Such a mess, dear husband." Sia frowned. "I didn't think she'd be so careless with our hearts." Aro saw in his wife's mind as she briefly conjured a few memories the three of them had and treasured with her. Their chats in the Family Room, that ridiculous holiday they put on for her, their walks in the courtyard. In every one of them, it had her smile, her sweet, decadent, priceless smile. The greatest treasure in the world to both of them, the pinnacle of their happiness together with her._ _Aro smiled lightly as he thought about her with that look. Truly, he had been blessed with such a lovely girl._

_When she wasn't being an insufferable and ungrateful little brat, he reminded himself. He'd been too lenient, he'd spoiled her and then she went and ruined their happiness. She was selfish and stupid, she ripped out his heart after he dared to honor her with it and rejected their love as though it was trash._

_She didn't deserve them, she didn't deserve their love and affection. She dared to disobey them and run away and she would pay the price for her transgressions. By the time he was done punishing her, Helen would_ **beg** _to be allowed the honor of being his daughter again. Aro must have started growling in anger as he was lost in his inner rant because his wife put a comforting hand on his cheek and shooed him rather soothingly._

_"I do not mean to upset you, dear heart." Sulpicia breathed out, her lips tracing his jaw. "We can't let her disrespect consume us or this will have all been for naught."_

_"Of course, Sia." He kissed her deeply on her lips, his hand moving down to the small of her back and traced circles over her cloak and dress. "I was lost in my upset for a minute. I'm afraid our daughter has that effect on me."_

_"When you speak with her again will you do me a favor, my husband?" Sulpicia breathed sweetly, cupping her hand behind his head and pulling him in closer. Aro nodded, "I will grant you anything you wish, as I always have."_

_She smiled and it made Aro feel such a surge of happiness to be blessed with such a darling wife. "Promise me that you will be kind to her, even though she doesn't deserve it right now. She will rightly be punished when she returns, but I don't want her thinking that there is no love for her waiting at home."_

_"Oh, my wife." Aro sighed and kissed her head. Such heart she had, as any good woman would, but her feminine navieté_ _had stepped forward even more than he expected. "Such mercy you have, such a gentle soul. I am always kind to her, but I'm afraid she continues to test me whenever I look at her, she truly was such a bratty girl when we last spoke."_

_"Promise me, Aro." Sulpicia smiled again. "All I want is her back with us as it were. I know we will need to be stricter with her so she follows the rules, but I don't want her to hate us. I want her to know how much we love her, even if our love has a high price."_

_"Perhaps you do have a point." Aro chuckled lightly. "She needs a firm hand, but a gentle one nonetheless. I'll make an effort, even if she does not deserve such tenderness."_

_"Will you pass along my regards as well?" She asked even more sweetly. "Pass along my love and care?"_

'Gods be good' _Aro thought, Helen truly did not deserve this level of devotion that Sulpicia held for her. Aro still loved his daughter very deeply even in his anger, but his wife's soft and womanly heart was truly a marvel to behold. He nodded and she leaned back into his chest, placing her hand over the spot where his heart had beaten some millennia ago. He was grateful for her calming presence and he knew how badly she needed him to lift her up during this difficult time of familial strife. Aro was always amazed by how extraordinarily different women could behave. Sulpicia knew to turn to him for comfort and support while Helen had sulked and screamed, disgracing herself with foul language and unkind words. He reminded himself of course that Helen was not a woman, but rather a girl, and girls needed to be minded and disciplined and never left to their own devices. He always found her cleverness amusing, but she wasn't half as clever as she thought she was as evident by her stupidly trying to trick him in their last conversation._

_Such a silly girl, thinking she could try and deceive to him of all people. He did not teach her how to lie, because if he had she would have been able to do it far better._

_His musings were interrupted by his wife, who looked up at him with tender eyes. "Dearest one, will you sing for me? I hate this long drive and I am in need of a distraction."_

_"Only for you, my love."_

_Aro sang a lovely tune he crafted for her back when she was a young woman with warm flesh and a beating heart, their song, sung in his delicate tenor reminded him of the early days when they were first husband and wife, surrounded only by love and adoration, with no worries about the children they could never make themselves or the daughter who had spurned their affection. It served as a welcome distraction for both of them as they returned to the safety of their castle._

* * *

What had started out as a week of training had transformed into three. Only because the first had shown the Cullen clan just how inept an inexperienced fighter like Helen was when it came to getting themselves ready against a newborn. As a result, Jasper had spent a week and a half getting her somewhat ready so that when it came time for her to spar with the remainder of the coven, she was able to put up a decent fight when combing basic moves with her temporarily supercharged strength.

It still pissed her off when Emmett through her jacket over her head and then proceeded to give her a wedgie. "You dick!" Helen shouted, embarrassed, and enraged. She lunged at him and he gave her a playful look as he dodged her two attempts to clock him in the jaw. Emmett only laughed at her and did a quick sweep of her feet with his leg and she fell back slightly before her vampire agility caught up with her and she was able to handstand into a backflip and resume a basic defensive position.

"Alright," Carlisle interjected. "I think that's enough for today. Good catch, Helen, hopefully, we can have you up to par in a few days. Emmett, while I am always impressed by your creativity," Carlisle deadpanned, rather exasperated as it turned out. "Please stick to maneuvers a bit more _realistic_ than pulling Helen's undergarments."

"Hey!" He shouted in mock defense. "We don't know what kind of freaky crap those newborns are into! They could take cheap shots like that."

"You're a cheap shot!" Helen grumbled in annoyance while flipping him off. "Fuck you!" She examined her now ripped waistband on her burgundy thong. "This was my favorite pair of panties!"

"C'mon Little Red." Emmett dismissed affectionately while placing a hand on her head, all it did was make her hiss in annoyance. "I promise no more wedgies or anything else that a 6th-grade boy would do to you."

Helen huffed and knocked his hand off of her head. He was really in the mood to act like an annoying older cousin today, he'd been boasting all day about the ass beating he was going to give her while they sparred. While Rosalie and Esme might have promised he was kidding, that grin on his face only served to make her venom constantly flood her mouth in anger.

Emmett continued to smirk at her and let his guard down for just the slightest moment, allowing Helen to take advantage of his lack of defense and rip his v-neck apart from the neckline down to the hem. Emmett blinked in confusion before frowning at her like she had just spit in his face.

"Hey, I loved this shirt!" He scowled at her. Helen scoffed and smirked up at him in return, "yeah it sucks whenever people damage your clothes! Doesn't it?"

"Enough." Jasper cut in, having just quickly run outside once he saw Carlisle bury his face in his hands in annoyance. He too had heard the squabble and did not find any part of it amusing. "We need to get ready for tonight before the guests arrive and Ruby needs to take Helen out for the night."

Ah, yes, Edward, Bella, Jasper, and Alice had all graduated from high school earlier today. The Cullen children having taken part in yet another photo op in their royal blue polyester gowns, their caps added to the wall decoration after Esme had managed to make room. Alice apparently had also decided to throw a party and invite the entire senior class full of humans over to celebrate. Obviously wanting to avoid the massacre of fifty or so humans by her newborn bloodlust, Ruby agreed to keep Helen occupied by taking her out into the woods and keep her distracted until the party was over.

At this point in her training to control her thirst, Helen could manage to be around two humans who had not consumed Leechless without losing her shit and going crazy. An amazing feat to increase her previous record of only one, if she really wanted to be cocky about it that is. The sky had gone dark, the distant roar of the party was humming in her head and Ruby had only had to strike her with a bolt of energy from her ring just the once when she smelled someone especially delicious at the house. The only thing that it had managed to hurt more than anything was her pride.

"Have you had a lot of experience doing that?" Helen grumbled and picked a leaf out of her hair from when she had been knocked over and tumbled in the dirt. Despite not even attending the party, Alice had insisted that she wear this ridiculous olive green party dress and sheer black tights, pulling on her cheap brown boots and booking it with Ruby before she could force her into these black suede wedge booties. Her dress was now muddy and the tights had several runs. It briefly flashed her back to the night she escaped Volterra and ruined the comparable fine clothing she had been given no choice but to wear. "I mean Jesus, you really nailed me with that blast."

"Well I was trying to put you on your ass, and when I'm determined about something I usually get what I want," Ruby smirked, rather pleased with herself. Maybe she enjoyed getting to take a shot at the bratty newborn she had been forced to bunk with for the foreseeable future. Helen snorted at that and kept walking with her through the deep forest that surrounded most of the Cullen land. Despite her current circumstances being separated from her family, Helen was enjoying the past month she had been given to find her footing away from the Volturi. She was still being careful and she had followed everyone's request that she not contact Aro again, because if even the slightest margin of error occurred then all of this would be over. She felt the continued call from his end, a sharp, piercing in the back of her head that came and went every so often. He was probably trying to wear down her resolve so that she'd inevitably answer, but it was like Ruby said, she can't beat him at the game when she's doesn't have the advantage to play. Helen knew she needed more power to face him again, and until she had that in her possession there wasn't really anything she could do but avoid him.

_'Honestly, as much as I wish he would just get me out of his head, I would pay big money to watch him squirm and get twitchy over me ignoring him.'_

They had gone a few hours into their long walk, during which Ruby blasted Helen twice with her ring. The first time because Helen caught the scent of a group of hikers downwind from them and the second as a result of Helen picking up a spider and putting it in Ruby's hair as a joke. It was just the two of them walking around in the cool, wet leaves and dirt of the Pacific Northwest taking jabs at each other but never making it personal. Despite how much they got on each other's nerves, Ruby was almost bearable to be around when she wasn't glued to the flask on her hip and got out of bed for more than an hour.

They had stopped at a nearby pond to sit down when Ruby got a call from Carlisle on her phone telling them to come back immediately. She put him on speaker and heard the grave concern in his voice as he spoke. " _Come back right now. We won't be going to Seattle after all, the newborn army will be here in four days. I'm afraid we need you both to fight them off."_

Well, fuck.

* * *

**Word count: 7,803**


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